ALA Library and Information Resource Center
Mission
The primary mission of the ALA Library is to assist the staff of the American Library Association in serving the needs of its members, and thereafter, the needs of other libraries, and the general public within the scope of its collection.
The ALA Library is a small special collections library, with a collecting scope focusing on:
- The history of and issues within libraries
- ALA history
- Professional development of the library workforce
- General professional development and association management
Many of the titles in the ALA Library's circulating collection are available for interlibrary loan through the RAILS regional library system.
Additionally, the ALA Library maintains a repository for publications from ALA and its units, and also serves as the liaison to the ALA Archives to ensure that ALA records are preserved and available to historians, library school faculty, students, and ALA staff and members for future research.
Learn more about the ALA Archives
Resources
ALA Resource Guides
The ALA Library maintains a LibGuide with a collection of resources on subjects and research topics related to ALA and the library field.
ALA Archives
The ALA Archives is the official repository for the American Library Association, located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The collection includes official ALA records, members’ papers, correspondence, publications, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and scrapbooks.
A to Z Resources
An alphabetized listing of professional resources about librarianship.
